PRICE OF PETROL RAISED

Evening Post, Volume CXXXII, Issue 76, 26 September 1941, Page 4

PRICE OF PETROL RAISED

An increase of one penny a gallon in the price of petrol to operate from today is provided for in the Motor Spirits Prices District Regulation, 1941, Amendment No. 2, gazetted last night. It is understood that the increase is to cover higher overseas costs and shipping freights. The price in the main centres, therefore, goes up from 2s 6 \ d a gallon to 2s 7|d.

trolled to such an extent that the greatest daily newspaper in the world' is reduced to.less than half its former size. Rationing of. raw materials is accompanied by; direct limitation of the sale of finished goods to the'consumer.

A year's clothing coupons will allow a man to buy one suit, one overcoat, one pair of shoes, two cotton shirts, two collars, and a pair of socks; to secure a pair of pyjamas, a pair of pants, and ; a vest he must forgo his overcoat. ' It is now an

honour to look shabby!

"Thirdly, manufacturing capacity has been deliberately curtailed. Under the scheme for concentration of production, factories have been closed in large numbers to release men urgently needed for war work. The flow of goods from them has stopped.

VALUE ASSESSED.

"These revolutionary changes in the structure of home production necessarily affect the export trade. The president of the Board of Trade has explained that exports must be looked at from the point of view of winning the war and that all are not equally valuable. Let me recapitulate the tests which are applied to decide what exports are regarded as valuable from this point of view. They are:—----"(1) Do they earn or save'dollar exchange, the conservation of which remains a pressing need despite the easing of the position so far as goods supplied under the Lease-Lend Act are concerned? (2) In the case of ster- ( ling area countries, including, of course, New Zealand, are they essential to the importing country? (3) Is the value of the exported product high in relation to the imported raw material ? (4) Can the article be manufactured and exported without putting an undue strain on resources needed for other war purposes?

"Subject •to these overriding considerations it is the policy of his Majesty's Government to encourage exports and to maintain trade connections as far as the circumstances permit.

AFTER THE WAR.

"There is no need for me to assure you that established trade connections with New Zealand are greatly valued and that as soon as the war is over we hope to see these connections developed and extended, but we are now at war, and we are compelled to concentrate all our efforts on winning the war, whatever the cost to ourselves as well as sacrifice for you.

"Britain appreciates New Zealand's readiness to accept the limitations imposed by the war on exports from the United Kingdom as sacrifices without spending precious foreign exchange on substitutes from elsewhere; for tightening the belt at Home would be *a useles? sacrifice unless it is accompanied by equivalent reduction of consumption throughout the whole Commonwealth.

"It might be asked whether the Lease-Lend Act has not altered the position. Now that America is increasing her supplies to the. Empire, can our policy of self-denial be relaxed? A moment's thought reveals that this would be complete misconception. We cannot" ask the United States to supply—nor, indeed, can the United States itself supply—a single ton of material that is not in the strictest sense essential to the war effort and that cannot be obtained elsewhere within the sterling area or from* Canada.

"As far as possible, goods essential for New Zealand will be sent to New Zealand. New Zealand for her part will send the food, the wool, the flax, and other supplies that \ Britain requires, so far as shipping is available. The slogan, in fact, is: 'To each according to his needs; from each according to his capacity.' '

SHIPPING LOSSES

It has been a great relief to see the figures of shipping losses decline. But the Battle "of the Atlantic is not won, and we arc not justified in regarding the recent fall jn tonnage